A whole lot of remixes have come out since I did my final Remix Report Card for 2022, so this is a big post. You can hear all of the remixes in the Spotify playlist:

I love Kelly Rowland's voice and wish she was still doing music more often, her last EP was excellent. So I was happy to hear her jump on this song, mainstream American artists don't always sound good on remixes of Afrobeats hits but this one works.  

Best Verse: n/a

Overall Grade: B

I like both PinkPantheress and Ice Spice and think it's kind of cool that two artists that people previously wouldn't have put in the same lane got their first big U.S. hit together. But I have mixed feelings about the song itself, I think "Boy's A Liar Pt. 2" might be my least favorite song either has made so far, I just don't like that dinky chiptune beat. Ice Spice's verse definitely livens the track up, though. 

Another example of artists I like linking up on a song I don't love -- "Conceited" felt like a subpar song to be the lead single to Flo Milli's debut album, to say nothing of it sharing the name of a much better Remy Ma lead single. Lola Brooke's flow sounds great on tougher production but it doesn't quite sound right on this noisy, wonky beat (co-produced by Trinidad James, apparently). Maiya The Don of "Telfy" fame really knows how to flow on this, though. 

I always hated Mario Winans and Diddy's "I Don't Wanna Know," and I hate Metro Boomin and The Weeknd's deeply unnecessary remake, and now I hate this full circle remix where Diddy shows up for a boring verse. Would've been more fun to get a a Lauryn Hill or Wyclef verse since the Fugees had the only actual good use of that Enya sample. 

Twista's "Wetter" seems a totally random minor hit from 2009 to become the basis of a Beyonce remix, but it's pretty fun the way Beyonce re-recorded all the lyrics and ad libs from "Cuff It" to tailor the vocal to this beat, and added a new verse. I will, say, though, it fails as a remix by the simple criteria that when it comes on the radio I'm invariably disappointed that I'm not listening to the original "Cuff It." 

A UK drill posse cut with 10 British rappers and one American and one Jamaican is kind of funny. Since I don't follow drill too closely it's hard for me to rate all the MCs, but a few of the flows are pretty good, and of course French Montana sticks out in a bad way and Beenie Man sticks out in a good way. There's so much dancehall in UK rap's DNA that I'd love to hear a lot more of guys like Beenie Man on drill beats. 

I'm gonna file this one alongside "Boy's A Liar" and "Conceited" -- I like both these artists and like the idea of a song with both of them, but I wish they picked a better track. I'm not really sure why "Despecha" was the biggest song Rosalia released last year, I don't think it's as good as most of the songs on the original release of Motomami. Cardi's verse is solid, but I'm not surprised that the remix didn't really make the impact it was expected to. 

Ariana Grande and The Weeknd have made a hit every time they've gotten together -- "Love Me Harder" was The Weeknd's first top 10 hit in 2014 that helped him elevate to pop star status (I loved that song), and and in 2020 Ariana jumped on a remix of "Save Your Tears" that propelled the song to #1 (I hated that song so much that even Ariana couldn't fix it for me). "Die For You" was first released in 2017 and became a hit in 2022, and once again the Ariana remix put it over the top to reach #1, and musically I think it works with her voice a little better than "Save Your Tears." 

I know that Yung Miami is currently the more famous half of City Girls because she's dating Diddy and has a little interview show, but JT really needs to be the one jumping on remixes, especially songs like this. I've already heard this remix on the radio once and I'll be annoyed if it starts replacing the original on playlists, neither of these verses is as good as Billy B on the original. 

I've been listening to and rooting for Baby Tate since 2019 (when she was still Yung Baby Tate), but recently one of her very early 2016 tracks I'd never heard, the Toni Basil interpolation "Hey, Mickey," blew up on TikTok and became potentially a big breakthrough hit for her. So she released a new remix with Saweetie, and I dunno, it's fine, but I don't care for the song or the guest, so I hope it doesn't blow up too big and Tate can just use this as a springboard to promote some of her better newer songs. 

Debbie is a young singer from London who began releasing singles on Universal last year, but I hadn't heard about her until Lucky Daye jumped on a remix of one of those singles. I don't think the song works perfectly as a duet, but their voices sound good together. 

As I said earlier in this post, the track record for western pop stars jumping on Afrobeats hits is pretty rough, but Camila sounds okay here, it's not as bad as Justin on "Essence" or Selena on "Calm Down."

"Nonsense" is probably my favorite hit of 2023 so far, Coi Leray would not be my first choice for a remix but she's a decent choice, works on the track reasonably well. One of the things I love about "Nonsense" is that Sabrina Carpenter has switched up the silly four-line outro every time she's performed it, tailoring new lyrics for whatever city she's on tour in or TV show she's performing on, so I'm glad she kept that up tradition for this remix. 

"Players" is already built on a big obvious sample that's been a hit for a few people, including Diddy. But instead of just throwing Diddy on a beat he's been on before like the "Creepin'" remix, the "Players" remix features Busta Rhymes rapping some new bars over one of his biggest hits, "Put Your Hands Where My Eyes Could See." Kind of fun but a little underwhelming compared to the original. 

I haven't been impressed by what I've heard by Vory in the past, but "Project Baby" is pretty good! It's a shame he got the most perfunctory possible guest for the remix, though. French does a Keith Sweat impression for a second that's hilariously awkward, but it's almost kind of nice to hear him do something with a little more personality. 

A Boogie Wit Da Hoodie has really fallen pretty quickly from his peak of popularity, that last album really came and went. "Secrets" is another dull song from a dull artist, but The Other Mariah adds a nice little flavor to the track. 

Lola Brooke sounds a little better on here than she did on the "Conceited" remix, but I'm still looking forward to her getting on tracks that suit her voice and vibe more. 

In the last couple years there's been a Twitter meme where girls will post "she's a 10 but [humorous, earnest, or ironic description of some perceived shortcoming or quirk of theirs]," harmless but rarely results in interesting or funny posts. British rapper ARTAN made into a song and it's similarly an inoffensively boring attempt at going viral, featuring white American novelty rapper Yung Gravy on the remix certainly pushes into outright obnoxious territory. 

An excellent song, Summer Walker doesn't bring much to it but if she helps it become a hit, I'm for it. It was smart of Rodney Jerkins to add a little 'Darkchild' drop at the beginning of the remix because I didn't even realize he produced this song. 

Lizzo's Special came out of the gate with an enormous #1 hit, and then the follow-up single was pretty much dead on arrival. Remixing the title track with the big star of the moment was a good idea to revive the album's momentum, but so far the "Special" remix has only done moderately better than her last single, so it may be too little to late. SZA sounds good on here, though, and she replaces Lizzo's clunky opening verse from the original that rhymes "video" with "video" (SZA also released an unrelated song called "Special" on her latest album, after Lizzo's album but before this remix). 

For the last couple decades, Charlie Wilson and Ron Isley have been the only two over-50 R&B legends who've consistently remained relevant, making hits and collaborating with younger artists. It's hilarious that the song that finally brought them together is a skeezy novelty hit by Fetty Wap, but Uncle Charlie sounds golden belting out that hook. The remix with an AutoTuned Wiz Khalifa has slightly more Spotify plays of the two remixes, there's no accounting for taste. 

The original Alica Keys solo version of this song was called "Billions," then the radio remix with Brent Faiyaz was called "Trillions" (although the word in the lyric is still "billions"). Their voices sound nice together but it's not much of a song. 

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